Making Luxury Out of Flat Soda
I learned to breathe in my grandmother’s kitchendespite life sitting on my chest.Scent of cast-iron skillet seasoned by sunrisesand ancestors’ touch. Gospels of sizzling greaseand bubbling greens my uncle called hallelujah and amen.Wallpaper aged like the wrinkled faces of generationssitting at her table, arguing over cardsand gossiping over cognac. Grandmommy’s kitchen,where on shattered days, when the world was crumbling,when she forged forwardwith the pennies and dust America gave her,I learned to fill my lungs with survival.Grandmommy’s kitchen had soul, but I wished for luxury,like my classmates’ kitchens, like sitcom kitchens,like kitchens that fed kids not worried about light bills.In the aisles of the unwanted, she bought soda gone stale:labeled with a bargain’s grace, flat as the depleted smileof penny-pinching resilience. But in her hands,the deserted became an idea—a diamond for joy’s crown.In the confines of her humble freezerthat soda surrendered to cold’s gentle grasp.My maker of miracles—my alchemist—transforming the unimpressive into glimmers,gifting me something more than survival.With a blender whirring a symphony of ingenuity,flat soda became a slushie—a frost-kissed wonder.Luxury coaxed from the discarded.More than a frozen treat, she shared a lesson:how to breathe in more life than you’ve been given.Making Luxury out of Flat Soda By Frederick Joseph retrieved from The Sun December 2024 on Jun 22, 2026
Invitation: “I learned to breathe … ”
Listen to Fredrick Joseph read the poem below.
Frederick Joseph once dreamed of being the next August Wilson. Nowadays, he fuels his creativity by giving his dog, Stokely, belly rubs in New York City parks. His latest book is We Alive, Beloved.
Frederick Joseph is the author of the poetry collection We Alive, Beloved (Row House Publishing, 2024) and two books of nonfiction, Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood (Harper Perennial, 2022) and The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person (Candlewick Press, 2020). More on his work at his website: https://frederickjoseph.com/resources
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June Courageous Citizen
Enjoy Dennis Kucinich’s wisdom below.
“Mr. Speaker, we make war with such certainty, yet we are befuddled how to create peace. This paradox requires reflection if we are to survive. Making and endorsing war requires a secret love of death, and a fearful desire to embrace annihilation. Creating peace requires compassion, putting ourselves in the other person’s place, and all of their suffering and all of their hopes and to act from our heart’s capacity to love, not fear.”
Dennis Kucinich, at this link by Robert Shetterly
June 1, 2026
For our June Americans Who Tell the Truth feature, we chose Dennis Kucinich because he has spent a lifetime holding onto ideas that many people considered politically inconvenient: peace, public good over private profit, environmental responsibility, and the belief that government should serve ordinary people, not power. Whether people agreed with him o…
The opening line in Frederick Joseph's poem catches my attention, my heart and my conscience.
"I learned to breathe in my grandmother’s kitchen despite life sitting on my chest."
And, he has me wondering -- in my growing up -- where did I learn to breathe? And, in my life now, where do I learn to breathe? I have memories of my Mom teaching me to cook and bake in what was clearly her domain, the kitchen. And, in the midst of her losing her eyesight when I was in fifth grade, she continued to teach me to cook, to bake and how to help her in those tasks. Mom was teaching me much more than how to cook and bake. She was teaching me how to live in the midst of adversity and changes. Most importantly, she taught me how to see with one's heart.
This line stayed with me: “Luxury coaxed from the discarded.” Sometimes love isn’t found in having more, but in the quiet imagination that refuses to let what seems ordinary lose its dignity. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful poem.